Vicious (2003) (V)

Director:

Matt Green

Writers:

Matt Green (writer)
Martin L. Kelley (writer)

Release Date:

30 December 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

In nature, you're either the hunter... or the hunted

Plot:

A group of campers encounter a brutal government agent whom uses them as bait to capture a vicious creature, a failed government experiment, loose in the woods. |

Plot Keywords:

Brinke Stevens Barefoot | Giant Monster | Government Conspiracy | Gore | Monster

Cast

Tom Savini	...	Kane
Brian Bremer	...	Doug
Melanie Parker	...	Barbara
Bill Moseley	...	Walace
Marco St. John	...	Colonel Hardwick
Robert Pralgo	...	Steve
Ted Huckabee	...	Hal
Brinke Stevens	...	Woman Camper
Rob Morris	...	Marine in Hall
Jenna Campbell	...	Secretary
Natalie Stephenson	...	Waitress
Kevin Brown	...	Marine #1
Michael Larson	...	Marine #2
Leigh Hill	...	Kerri
Mark Schell	...	Richie

MPAA:

Rated R for violence and gore.

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:R

Filming Locations:

Georgia, USA

Company:

Kingpin Productions

Trivia:

There was originally a full-scale animatronic monster built for the film. Unfortunately, by the time that the film was ready to be shot, the creature wasn't finished. The head was however, and the close-up of the creature or shots with just the head exposed are all animatronic, the rest finished with CG that writer/director Matt Green condones.

Sci-Fi Channel Rejects: Volume 1

Our government's idea of "field testing" a giant, scaly, fanged, genetically-created lizard creature is simply to let the damn thing run free in the New Jersey wilderness, where it can merrily munch on campers, fishermen and the citizens of the nearest small town. It is carefully contained behind a chain a three year old could get around with a hilarious "Do Not Enter" sign posted in front of it and is "supervised" by Kane (Tom Savini); a wild-eyed war vet who makes sure the creature has plenty of 'food' on hand. Kane lures people into the monster's clutches by giving them false information, ties people to trees, shoots them, snaps necks with his bare hands and runs people off the road to make sure his pal gets a square meal.

In Washington D.C., corrupt Colonel Jim Hardwick (Marco St. John) and Mr. Wallace (Bill Moseley, who's awful!) discover 'Project Carnivore' is getting out of hand and they go all out to stomp out the threat by sending out a grand total of (ha!) TWO black-ops marines to snuff out both Savini and the beast. And surprise! Four young people also show up to hunt and fish and get stuck in the middle of all this. They consist of wise-ass Steve (Robert Pralgo), pudgy heavy-drinker Hal (Ted Huckabee), bug-eyed good guy Doug (Brian Bremer) and his very annoying girlfriend Barbara (Melanie Parker), who crashes the "guy's weekend" with her own set of stupid "rules" for the trip (No Beer!?). Additional monster fodder comes in the form of other campers (including Brinke Stevens, who's completely wasted in a tiny cameo), a couple in a car wreck (the woman goes crazy) and a redneck fisherman.

Usually the reviews for this one are terrible, but overall I didn't think it was THAT bad. Most of the acting was OK, photography is pretty blurry (and I don't recall a movie off hand where everything was almost drowned out by the color green), story is too familiar but tolerable I guess... But when the monster finally shows up and you discover it is computer animated... Whoa, boy. It's the worst looking thing ever. I mean, those SciFi Channel original movies have way better sfx. They'd have been better off with a model mock up, which can be cheaply done and no matter how bad it looked it would have been more convincing than the terrible CGI seen here.